Electronic firms derelict on e-waste, says Greenpeace

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Feature story - October 26, 2005

Manila, 26 October 2005—Greenpeace today criticized major consumer electronic firms for neglecting to face up to the serious environmental concerns surrounding the production and disposal of electronic goods which contain toxic persistent chemicals and heavy metals, as evidenced by a recent survey on company policies
about the issue.

Electronic waste at the Smokey Mountain garbage dump in Manila. Greenpeace today warned of a looming e-waste problem in the Philippines which can pose health and environmental risks. Electronic waste is the fastest growing component in the global waste stream amounting to 20 to 50 million tons worldwide with Asia contributing about 12 million tons a year.

Electronic waste at the Smokey Mountain garbage dump in Manila. Greenpeace today warned of a looming e-waste problem in the Philippines which can pose health and environmental risks. Electronic waste is the fastest growing component in the global waste stream amounting to 20 to 50 million tons worldwide with Asia contributing about 12 million tons a year.

The survey, conducted by Greenpeace between July and October
2005, looked into the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), or
take-back policies, of the top electronic companies in the country.
The results were dismal: among the 14 companies surveyed, only
two-Dell and HP-have instituted product recovery solutions, which,
even then, still fall short of EPR requirements. EPR is a
product-oriented policy developed in Europe to deal with
problematic waste streams, in this case, electronic scrap, or
E-waste.

Survey results clearly indicate that product take back as a
responsible solution to the proliferation of E-waste is not a
priority of electronic companies in the Philippines. Among those
surveyed, Nokia, Samsung, Sony-Ericsson, LG, Panasonic, IBM,
Fujitsu, Acer, Toshiba, Sony, failed to reply to the survey.
Motorola and Siemens, stated that with the absence of manufacturing
facilities in the country, the take back system was not applicable
to them.

"Companies are very aggressive in developing and selling their
products to the point of rapid obsolescence. But it appears that
none of them actually care about the horrible amount of E-waste
that they produce," said Greenpeace Southeast Asia Toxics
Campaigner Beau Baconguis.

"They're behind the looming e-waste crisis that we're facing so
they're the ones who have take urgent proactive steps to undo the
problem," she added.

Last September 28, Greenpeace issued a report on the looming
E-waste problem in the country and demanded that companies clean-up
or phase out toxic components in electronics and take back their
products when they become waste.

Greenpeace believes that the Philippine government must do its
part by instituting mandatory mechanisms that embody EPR. One of
them is a take back system which requires the individual
manufacturers to physically take back its products after it reaches
end of life.

Greenpeace also reiterated its demands for top electronic
companies to move towards developing clean and durable products
that can be upgraded, recycled, or disposed of safely and has asked
top mobile phone and computer companies worldwide to clean up their
act by phasing out toxics substances from their products and to
take responsibility for their products once they reach the end of
their useful life.

So far, companies such as Samsung, Nokia, Sony, Sony Ericsson,
and LG have made commitments to eliminate the use of hazardous
chemicals such as PVC and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in
the

manufacturing of their products. Motorola is the latest to join
the list of companies in committing to substitute these harmful
substances with safer alternatives.

"The looming e-waste crisis may still be averted if companies
take full responsibility for their product in all stages of the
product life," concluded Baconguis, "They should eliminate
hazardous substances in the production, but the most immediate
solution is product take back so that they can assume
responsibility for this

issue now."

Greenpeace is an independent, campaigning organization which
uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global
environment problems, and to force the solutions which are
essential to a green and peaceful future.

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